Sacrifice
by Dolphingirl32173
Summary: Elena has always been willing to sacrifice everything to save Damon, but how far is she really willing to go? FULL SUMMARY INSIDE! (Damon/Elena, Katherine/Stefan)
1. Sacrifice Everything

Sacrifice  
DG32173

Sarah: just a thought I had. I hope you enjoy. Reviews are most appreciated.

_**DISCLAIMER**_  
The only thing I own is what I write as it is written. Everything you recognize, including this theme, belongs to someone else.

_**WARNINGS**_  
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! The Originals never come to Mystic Falls. Just Katherine plotting to break up Elena and Stefan. Rated M for my sanity, not that I have any.

_**SUMMARY**_  
When Katherine takes Damon and Stefan hostage, Elena knows it's a trap to draw her out. But one look at the picture of Damon tied up with vervaine ropes that Katherine had sent her sends all common sense right out of her. So she risks her life yet again to protect the vampire she keeps refusing to admit she loves, Stefan being in equal danger barely sinking into her mind. Only this time, things take a turn that nobody but Katherine expected. Elena has always been willing to sacrifice everything to save Damon, but how far is she really willing to go? _**Damon/Elena, Katherine/Stefan**_

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Chapter 1  
Sacrifice Everything

Elena's hair whips out behind her as she races headlong through the woods. She knows damned well that this is all a trap that Katherine had cooked up to lure her away from her guards and out of the newly-created safety of the boarding house, which is now in her name. But one look at the picture of Damon that had been sent to her and she lost all common sense as the overwhelming drive to protect him that fills her when he's in danger rose yet again. The blue-eyed Salvatore had been tied up with ropes that were obviously laced with vervaine, considering the burns on his skin around the rope. She vaguely recalls that Stefan had been in the background, also tied up with vervaine ropes. But her concern for the vampire who's s_upposed_ to be her boyfriend barely makes a blip on her radar compared to the all-consuming _need_ to save Damon, sacrificing even her life to do so if she must.

Finally, she breaks free of the woods to see the ruins of the old Salvatore manor. Katherine had said that if she wanted to protect the brothers, she would have to come to the old Salvatore estate alone and enter the basement. There she would find the brothers. Elena knows that Katherine wouldn't just hand them over, just like that. She knows Katherine would be luring her into a trap. But the mere hint that Damon was in trouble was enough to make the side of Elena that's just as reckless as Damon can be come forward and make her race through the woods to save him.

"Basement, basement," she mutters, slowly making her way into the ruins. She pulls out the flashlight she had remembered to bring and turns it on. She has only been here once, when Stefan brought her to retrieve Damon's ring from where he had hidden it the one time he had locked his brother up in the basement at the boarding house. She hadn't exactly been given a grand tour, so she's trying desperately to recall the general layout of the southern manors in the middle of the nineteenth century that she had learned from Rick in history.

She knows that one entrance into the basement, or cellar, as it was called then, was always located near the kitchen because that end was used to store food supplies as well as alcohol. But she also recalls that it was still connected to the rest of the basement. So she decides to try to find where the kitchen had been, since that's her best option. It takes nearly fifteen minutes, but she finally finds the kitchen entrance into the basement. She frowns nervously at the stairs. They _look_ sturdy enough, but considering how long this place has been abandoned, she knows trusting them to carry her weight is the _last_ thing she should do.

Elena takes a deep breath and carefully makes her way down into the inky blackness of the cellar, testing each step carefully before putting her full weight on it. She lets out a sigh of relief when she makes it all the way down without mishap. Now if only the rest of this stupid rescue mission will go that well. She knows damned well that's not going to happen, but she can't help wishing it would. With that grim thought, Elena begins making her way deeper into the basement, looking for her boys.

With Damon and Stefan

Damon groans as he strains against the vervaine ropes. "Damn that bitch," he growls. "I'm going to rip her heart out and feed it to her for this."

"Easy, Damon," Stefan says. "You know as well as I do that we can't get free on our own."

"This is a damned trap and we're the bait," Damon snarls. "I don't take kindly to being used as bait."

"The others will figure something out," Stefan assures his brother.

"Only if Elena doesn't get it in her head to pull off a rescue mission all by herself," Damon snaps. He sees Stefan's startled look and curses. "Dammit, Stefan, there's only _one_ person in this town Katherine would use _both_ of us as bait for. Judgy and Blondie couldn't give a rat's ass if I'm okay. They hate me, remember? But _Elena_ has this annoying habit of risking everything to save my ass. She's taken on a vampire that wanted to barbecue me. She nearly got herself trapped in a tomb full of desiccated vampires because I was going into shock from realizing that I wasted a hundred-and-forty-five years chasing a lie. Remember, it was _my_ name she cried out in fear when it became apparent that we could so easily have gotten trapped. Not to mention she was perfectly willing to run _into_ a burning building to get to me and _would_ have had Judgy not held her back. Let's not forget that she leapt over a trail of fire and physically launched herself at a pissed-off witch because said witch was taking out her frustration on me. Is it just me or is there some sort of pattern there?" Damon asks sarcastically.

"It sounds like Elena would give up her life to keep you safe," Stefan remarks softly.

"Not to mention that she came too damned close to going right into that houseful of tomb vampires because they were holding you hostage. She jumped between the stake in my hand and Blondie when she saw I was going to kill the girl. Hate to say it, baby bro, but Elena is too damned willing to _run_ headfirst into danger without a plan at the merest hint of those she cares about being in trouble." Damon tugs at the ropes tying his hands over his head, hissing as the vervaine burns deeper into his wrists.

Suddenly, the brothers wince as a light shines under the door to the dark room they're in. A vampire wouldn't need a light because vampires can see perfectly well in pitch black darkness with no light. So it's definitely not Katherine returning. The door creaks open and reveals the very human they had just been talking about. Her eyes widen at seeing the burns that Katherine had inflicted on them with vervaine water. "Damon," she breathes, dropping her flashlight and rushing over to him.

"_Please_ tell me you weren't so stupid as to walk into a blatant trap _without_ backup," Damon groans as he tries to twist to see what she's doing.

"Shut up and hold still," Elena snaps, working frantically at the knots tying the rope holding Damon upright to what had once been a bar that would hold chained slaves in this ancient cell.

"I'll take that as a 'yes, Damon, I _was_ stupid enough to come without backup,'. What were you _thinking_ Elena?" Damon growls.

"You were in trouble and Katherine said that if I contacted anyone about this, you would both be dead before we found you," Elena growls, down to the last knot.

Suddenly a wind rushes through the cell and Elena's yanked away from the knot. Elena finds herself struggling to escape Katherine's grasp. "And you were _so_ obedient," Katherine says into the human's ear. The vampiress is holding Elena with her back braced against Katherine's chest. "And since you were obedient, I figured I should reward you."

"Let her go, Katherine," Damon snarls, tugging savagely against his binds.

"Katherine, please, let her go," Stefan begs, struggling against his own restraints.

Katherine reaches up to grasp Elena's throat with one hand. "Now, now, boys, you wouldn't want anything happening to her, would you?" she coos. The brothers freeze, both glaring fiercely at Katherine. "Much better. So, where was I? Ah, yes, I was saying that I should reward you for your obedience, Elena," she says. "As a reward to obeying my orders, you get to keep one brother. The other will be leaving Mystic Falls with me," Katherine says. "Now, Elena, you have a choice to make. Which brother will you keep? Damon? Or Stefan?"

"Neither of them will go with you willingly," Elena growls.

"I didn't say they have to be willing," Katherine replies. "I just said one is coming with me, the other is staying with you. And that decision is yours, Elena."

Elena's eyes flick over both brothers. She knows that Damon would rather die than go with Katherine. And she'd rather die than be without him. But Stefan would be so hurt if she didn't choose him. He wouldn't understand. He's never understood the bond between her and Damon. Elena makes a choice that will shock all of them "Take me, Katherine. Just leave them alone," she says softly.

"No!" Damon shouts.

"Elena, think about this!" Stefan begs.

"You know, that is a very tempting offer," Katherine muses. "So, you'd sacrifice _everything_ to protect them from me?" she asks.

"Yes," Elena says firmly.

"Elena, don't do this!" Damon snaps.

"There's got to be another way," Stefan pleads.

"You would give up everything, even your life, for them?" Katherine asks.

Damon and Stefan start fighting their restraints in earnest as what Katherine's leading up to becomes clear to them.

"I'd give up my life to protect those I care about," Elena says honestly.

"Well, I think we just found a little deal we could make," Katherine says. "I have a deal for you, Elena. I turn you and then I'll leave Mystic Falls, leaving everyone you care about alone for however long they live provided they leave me alone. But I won't hesitate to defend myself, even if it's against someone you care about."

"Don't you dare, Katherine!" Damon snarls.

"Elena, think about this!" Stefan cries.

Elena looks directly into Damon's eyes, not even glancing at Stefan. "Say it as a blood oath, Katherine. I don't trust you," Elena says firmly, leaving all three vampires to wonder how she found out about the blood oath, the only spell a vampire can cast. When a vampire gives a blood oath to someone, they are bound to their word for eternity. And it's not something vampires just _talk_ about, considering that not even the oldest vampires in the world, the Originals, can go against a blood oath they give.

Katherine sighs. "Very well. I, Katherine Pierce, born as Katarina Petrova, give a blood oath to one Elena Gilbert, my final descendant, that if she allows me to turn her into a vampire, I will leave those she cares about alone for eternity _provided_ that they leave me alone in turn. However, I will not hesitate to defend myself should they come after me," she says, her immense Power swirling around the two as she casts the spell to bind her to her word. Then her Power curls back into her. "Okay, Elena, you have my blood oath. It's time." She brings her wrist to her mouth and bites down to break skin before pressing her wrist against Elena's mouth. The brothers shout and beg for this to stop, struggling to free themselves. But both women ignore them as Elena swallows Katherine's blood. When Katherine determines Elena has had enough, she pulls her wrist away and turns Elena around, her hands on either side of the human's head. "Now it's time for just a short nap, Elena. When you wake up, you'll experience the world in a whole new way. Embrace immortality, because you just achieved it. Bye now," she says before snapping Elena's neck. Elena collapses to the floor, lifeless for now. Katherine pulls out a pair of black leather gloves. "And here I thought my plan wouldn't work," she tells the brothers as she slips the gloves on.

"What plan?" Damon demands heatedly.

"End the Petrova bloodline at long last by turning my final human descendant into a vampire," she says. "It wasn't about either of you this time. Now I guess I should let the two of you free so you can take care of her. I'm bound by the blood oath, after all. But don't go attacking me once I do, I made sure that I would be able to defend myself should any of you lot try to take revenge. I'm not stupid." With that, she unties the rope keeping Stefan up then does the same for Damon. "I'm sure you can free yourselves from there. Take care of her. It'll be fun to find out which of you can handle it when she is no longer able to suppress her true self. I swore to leave you alone. I _didn't_ swear to stay away. This is going to be fun."

With that, Katherine uses her vampire speed to leave the ruins completely while the brothers make haste to shed their painful bonds and get to Elena. They know that this is only the beginning of Katherine's latest game. And Elena had played right into the bitch's hand. They just hope they can protect her from whatever else their sire has planned.

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Sarah: and that is it for chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter, Elena wakes up in her room in the boarding house to face her friends as they demand to know what she was thinking. Please review and tell me what you think of this so far.


	2. Interrogation

Sacrifice  
DG32173

Sarah: here's chapter 2. Elena will be waking up in transition to becoming a vampire and have to face her friends' demands to explain her reasoning behind her decision. I hope everyone enjoys! ALSO! I own the Racial Oaths! No stealing!

_**REVIEW REPLIES**_

_jairem:_ here's the start of Elena's evolution into vampirism.

_JMHUW:_ I had thought that Damon's comment about Elena jumping between the stake in his hand and Blondie – aka Caroline – would have made it perfectly clear that she's a vampire right now. All of Elena's loved ones who are in the know will appear in this chapter. As for how Elena will be after her 'true self' emerges, well you'll see the very start of her change here.

_luvfordelena:_ here's the update!

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Chapter 2  
Interrogation

Damon scowls as he paces the length and breadth of his room. He and Stefan had mutually agreed without even consulting each other that they would let Elena spend her 'dead' phase in his bed. Stefan could barely look at her after her choice was made. Of course, the younger Salvatore had _never_ wanted this life for Elena and couldn't fathom why she would so willingly give herself over to it. Damon, however, knows her far better than his brother ever will, far better than even her childhood friends do. He _knows_ why she had made the choice she did. Not that he likes it or any other reason he could come up with.

She had sacrificed her humanity because she couldn't bear to lose him and was too kind-hearted to betray his brother by choosing Damon to stay with her. Damon is certain of that. After all, her doting boyfriend had been in just as much danger and had actually been tied up closer to the door she entered. But she had gone straight for him, Damon, as if Stefan wasn't even _there._ He had seen the pain flash across his brother's face when Elena had actually rushed passed him in her drive to rescue Damon. They have both known for some time that Elena's feelings for the older Salvatore brother ran far deeper and far stronger than her feelings for the one who was _supposed_ to be her boyfriend. Damon's known it since Georgia, known it since the words "When it's real, you can't walk away" fell from her lips as she pleaded with Lexi's boyfriend to spare his life. Stefan probably didn't figure it out until the tomb, when Elena rushed in to beg for _Damon_ to get out of there. After all, she had cried "Damon, _please!"_ when Stefan had been in just as much danger of being trapped. Well, they had _thought_ in that moment that the brothers would be trapped if they didn't make haste to escape.

And both brothers knew that it wasn't _Stefan_ she would have rushed into that burning building to rescue had Bonnie not held her back. It was _Damon_ she was willing to risk her life for that time. And she had literally leaped a trail of fire to slam into Bonnie to stop the young witch from burning Damon to ashes.

Damon's head snaps up as he is jerked out of his thoughts when he hears the arrival of several familiar car engines. He purses his lips. He had taken the precaution of locking his door after he had carefully arranged Elena on his bed, locking everyone out, even his brother. Not that Stefan had been at all willing to stay and wait for Elena to wake up. No, Stefan can't stand even the thought of what she had done. To make it even worse, Elena hadn't even _glanced_ at Stefan as she made her bargain with Katherine. She had kept her gaze firmly on Damon up until Katherine had turned her around before snapping her neck.

Damon had left it up to his brother to contact those who needed to know about Elena's choice. He had left it up to Stefan to explain what had happened in the basement of the old Salvatore manor. Now the crew has arrived to wait for Elena's awakening into her new life. Damon glances at the blood bag resting on his lone nightstand and sighs. Another reason he had locked the rest out is because he's not willing to take the chance of one of them forcing her to complete the transition if that isn't what she wants. He knows damn well how long the hatred for such an act can last from his own personal experience. To be perfectly honest, it hadn't been until he met Elena that night her parents were coming to pick her up from the party that he had finally forgiven his brother.

He grimaces, knowing that she will now remember _that_ memory he had stolen from her. Even as well as he knows her, he still has no idea how she's going to react to finding out he had met her first and had stolen the memory from her. He's grateful that it's the _only_ memory he had stolen from her.

He scowls when he hears footsteps rapidly climbing the stairs. Rapidly for someone who isn't a vampire or a werewolf, at least. He sighs when the footsteps take an immediate right at the top of the stairs, rushing down _his_ wing of the second floor. As he had feared they would, the footsteps stop right outside his door. They don't even bother knocking, instead just trying the knob to find out he had locked it.

"Let me in, Damon," the witch's voice seethes.

"I'm not letting anyone in until she wakes up," he snaps. "And if she chooses not to complete the transition, I will make sure _everyone_ abides by her decision. _No one_ is going to force this life on her so long as I'm around."

He immediately senses Bonnie's shock at his words. "What do you mean by that?" she demands finally.

"I know from personal experience just how long hatred can last for being forced to complete the transition against your will. Or has St. Stefan not shared _how_ I finished the transition with you lot?" he asks. He doesn't wait for her to answer. "I was perfectly prepared to face final death by not completing the transition. St. Stefan wasn't willing to face eternity alone so he brought some girl to me, ripped into her neck with his fangs, and flung her at me. I was on the borderline of death and thus wasn't able to resist the Craving when it cried out for me to drain her dry. After I was forced to complete the transition, I swore to him that I'd give him an eternity of misery for his betrayal. For some reason, the past tends to repeat itself in this town, so I'm not taking the chance of _anyone_ forcing blood on her against her will. If she wants to die rather than become a vampire, I'll make sure that no one takes her right to make that decision from her. Then I'll find a nice sunny spot and take off my ring because facing life without her is pretty much impossible at this point. Now _go_ and tell the others I won't let _anyone_ take the choice to complete transition or not from her."

Damon proceeds to tune her out as well as the sounds coming from downstairs. He turns to Elena to check for any sign that she'll wake up soon. It's only been an hour and a half since Katherine snapped her neck, but Elena tends to recover from things pretty damn quickly. Upon seeing that she's not going to come out of the death stage anytime soon, he resumes his pacing. He doesn't _dare_ relax his guard because he's certain that the instant he does, someone will take the choice from her and force her to complete transition whether she wants to or not. So he continues to pace as the night wears on.

Elena

Elena sighs as she looks around the darkness she had been wrapped up in as soon as Katherine had snapped her neck. Ever since she had discovered the brothers' secret, she had frequently wondered what it would be like to become a vampire, though she made sure to keep those musings to herself, even keeping them out of her journal. After all, Damon's taken up the annoying habit of reading her journal and leaving little notes at the end.

But she never once realized that most of the death stage would be completely boring, spent trapped in a seemingly never-ending darkness. She likens this darkness to the inside of a black hole. She crosses her corporeal arms and paces, waiting for some sign to tell her that she's close to waking up in transition. _Anything_ is better than this boring place.

_Finally,_ after an unbearable amount of time that made even _her_ patience wear thin, a light appears in the distance. She immediately makes her way towards it. After only a few steps, though, she is swept up in reliving her life, starting from the day she was born. Rather than seeing it through her eyes at the age she had been, though, she is more like a spectator inside her own head, watching from a distance. As she continues walking towards the light, her life plays out before her. Suddenly, a memory plays before her that she had been forced to forget.

If it had been up to her, she would have frozen in place as the scene of her true first meeting with Damon plays out before her. But now the light, considerably brighter than it had been at the start, is dragging her forward, through the past several months' worth of memories she had made.

At last, she is flung through the light, sitting up in a _very_ comfortable bed with a gasp. She immediately sees Damon standing at the foot of the bed, watching her intently. She opens her mouth to speak but Damon speaks first. "Would you _please_ tell me what the _hell_ you were thinking?" he demands crossly.

"I couldn't let Katherine take you!" Elena snaps.

Damon rolls his eyes. "Well, after she snapped your neck, she revealed that her _real_ plan had been to _turn_ you, thus ending her bloodline," he informs her, causing Elena's jaw to drop in surprise. "And you played right into her hands." He sighs, raking his hand through his hair. "Well, there's only one thing left for me to ask you: do you plan on finishing the transition?"

Elena scowls. "It was part of the deal, remember? If I let her turn me, she would leave everyone alone. I highly doubt that deal would last if I didn't finish the transition. And I trust you to keep me from killing anyone," she tells him.

"You're not going to insist on The Stefan Diet?" Damon asks, amused.

Elena shakes her head. "If _he_ isn't able to stick to it, then how am _I_ supposed to?" she asks logically.

Damon vamps forward to the nightstand next to her and Elena's amazed that she can see every move he makes. Damon lifts the blood bag resting on the nightstand, rips the valve off, and passes the bag to her. "No time like the present to make the transition, then," he tells her.

Elena sighs and sticks the tube in her mouth to use as a straw as she has seen Damon do on the few occasions he's been in too much of a rush to bother with a glass. As she drinks the blood, she marvels at how rich and sweet it tastes. It flows like liquid chocolate down her throat. So entranced by the taste, she drinks until the very last drop in the bag travels over her tongue and down her throat.

Damon watches with pride as Elena doesn't hesitate to drink the blood and becomes so enthralled by the taste that she drinks every last drop. She finally pulls the bag from her lips. "You know, you could subsist solely on blood bags, if you so chose," he remarks.

Elena snaps her eyes open, only then realizing that she had closed them. "I can?" she asks hopefully.

Damon shrugs. "I don't see why not," he replies. "If you feed regularly from blood bags, then it's not very likely that the Craving will have much control over you even if you _were_ exposed to fresh human blood. And if it _does_ take control of you, I'll be there to keep you from killing anyone. That's a promise."

Elena sighs as she passes the empty blood bag back to him. "You and I need to talk," she says softly.

"Later," he tells her. "Right _now,_ we have to get the witch to make you a daylight ring. Not to mention we have to let everyone downstairs know you've chosen to stay with us."

"Downstairs?" Elena asks, for the first time taking in the unfamiliar room she is in.

"You're in my room," Damon replies with a smirk. "To be precise, you're on my bed."

Elena frowns, looking down at the soft covers beneath her hands. "Why?" she asks in confusion.

"Let's just say that Steffie's not very happy with your part of the deal you made with Katherine and leave it at that for now," Damon says wryly.

But Elena has grown quite adept at being able to read between what Damon _does_ say to understand what he's meaning. "You mean that he can't stand to look at me now that I'm no longer human," she whispers, her heart aching.

Damon winces. "Something like that," he replies honestly. He has never lied to her and he's not going to start now.

Elena sighs and carefully climbs out from under the covers. Damon helps steady her when the room swims around her upon standing upright. She braces her hands on his arms while waiting for the world to hold still again. Finally, the world settles down and she steps away from him. A part of her longs desperately to fall into his embrace and never leave it. She had fought that part of her as a human but with her transition into a vampire, it has grown exponentially stronger. Damon had once told her that vampirism heightens everything to the extreme, _including_ emotions. Now she knows for herself that is true. The only thing that stops her from giving in is the knowledge that she needs to figure out where things stand between her and Stefan. She wonders if her relationship with the younger brother is even _worth_ fighting for. After all, he can't tolerate the fact that she had chosen to become a vampire to keep both of them, as well as her other friends, safe from Katherine.

Damon, at least, is being understanding. He didn't really jump her case for her choice other than that one question. And he had told her what Katherine's true plans had been, but had then left the subject alone. Elena knows she can't expect the same from the others. "Everyone's downstairs, aren't they?" she asks softly.

"Let's see, my brother, the witch, Vampire Barbie, your brother, wolf-boy, and Rick," Damon lists. "Yep, that's everyone who's in the know." Elena forcibly keeps herself from wilting at that, but Damon sees through her valiant attempt to appear strong. "You know you'll have to face them sometime," he says gently.

"I know. And it's better now than later. I still need a daylight ring," she replies. She takes a deep, steadying breath. She knows she no longer _needs_ to breathe, but it's a habit. Besides, that deep breath helps her just as much now as it did when she was human. "Let's go."

Damon walks next to her to his door and unlocks it, causing Elena to frown at him in confusion. "If you had chosen not to complete transition, I wasn't about to let anyone take that decision from you," he tells her.

He had told her about how Stefan had stolen that choice from him and how. She nods her understanding at his reluctance to let that same fate happen to her. He opens the door and lets her lead the way down the hall to the stairs. Though she had never been _in_ Damon's rooms before now, she knows where in the boarding house they are located: at the exact opposite end of the second floor from Stefan's.

At the top of the stairs, Elena hesitates. She can hear six separate heartbeats; two much slower than the others, coming from below as well as the sound of a crackling fire in the living room hearth, but no other sounds come from the first floor. Apparently, either Stefan, Caroline, or Tyler had noted that Elena had woken up and had alerted the others that she and Damon were coming downstairs.

Damon gently lays his hand on her shoulder, letting her know without words that he'll support her, not only against their other friends, but also for the rest of eternity. Elena briefly covers his hand with hers and gives it a gently squeeze, silently thanking him. Then she sighs and begins making her way downstairs, Damon right behind her. Elena winces back into the stairway when she sees that someone had forgotten to close the curtains on the windows and that sunlight is shining through. Damon curses and quickly dodges around her to vamp around and shut all the curtains.

"Are you lot _mad?"_ he demands fiercely. "She doesn't have any protection against the sun, you idiots! Are you _trying_ to barbecue her?"

By the guilty expressions on everyone's faces, apparently they hadn't thought that she might have completed transition _before_ coming downstairs. "How were we supposed to know? I mean, _you_ said that …" Caroline starts.

"Just because I _said_ that I won't let anyone _force_ her into completing the transition _doesn't_ mean that I wasn't taking the precaution that she might _actually_ be willing to complete it on her own!" Damon snaps. He throws his hands in the air in exasperation. "I'm surrounded by _idiots!"_ he cries to the ceiling.

Elena doesn't know what spurs her to do so, but she vamps forward to take Damon's face in her hands. "It's okay, Damon," she says softly, forcing him to look at her. "I saw it in time. It was just a mistake on their part. It's okay."

Damon grits his teeth to hold back the sharp retort he wants to make. Elena doesn't deserve to be treated like that. Instead he takes slow, deep breaths until his fury subsides to controllable levels. "If their carelessness had hurt you in _any_ way," he starts angrily.

"But it didn't," she replies. "I'm okay."

The others watch in stunned amazement as Elena quickly soothes Damon into a calmer frame of mind. Many of them had been so sure that he would have done something drastic in retaliation for their mistaken assumption that Damon would bring her downstairs _before_ she completed the transition. The others were too awed by Damon taking such gentle care of Elena that they weren't really thinking about anything else.

Finally, after several long minutes of reassurances, Elena _finally_ manages to soothe Damon's temper. Damon finally sighs before turning a sharp look on Bonnie. "You need to make her a daylight ring _ASAP_ so that such a close call doesn't have a chance to happen again," he growls.

"I brought a ring with me," Bonnie replies coolly, rising from her perch on the couch she was sharing with Caroline and Tyler. Bonnie then walks over to one of the curtained windows and opens it just slightly. She places the ring on the floor in the patch of sunlight revealed. "Elena, you need to come stand opposite of me," Bonnie says.

Elena glances nervously at Damon. "I won't let anything happen to you," he reassures her.

She nods and stands on the opposite side of the patch of sunlight from Bonnie, making sure to keep carefully out of the sun. Bonnie concentrates all her attention on the ring for several long moments before picking it up and handing it to Elena. Elena slips it on her right ring finger and tentatively puts her left hand in the patch of sunlight, despite all her new vampire instincts _screaming_ at her to stay away from it. When nothing happens, she sighs with relief. Damon vamps to her side and lifts her right hand to examine the intricate silver band with its pale blue lapis lazuli gem.

"Where'd you get this ring, witch?" he asks curiously.

"I can't tell you," Bonnie replies.

"And why not?" Damon asks, glancing at her.

"Grams made me promise not to tell anyone who she got it from," she states, going back to her seat on the couch next to Caroline.

Damon examines the seating arrangement and frowns before looking at Elena and raising an eyebrow. She cocks her head in confusion and he jerks his head toward the seating. Elena looks and sighs. There was only one seat left: Damon's chair. She returns her attention to Damon and arches an eyebrow at him, silently asking him something that the others can't comprehend. Damon nods, his face completely serious. "Fine," Elena sighs. Damon smirks and leads her over to the chair. Where the others _had_ expected that Damon would be the gentleman and let Elena have the chair, they're surprised to see Damon sit in it. Then _everyone_ finds their jaws dropping when Elena takes a seat in his lap. Both of them look like this is nothing out of the ordinary. Five sets of eyes look back and forth between the two in Damon's chair and where Stefan is studiously avoiding looking at them.

Finally, Caroline speaks up for the group. "Did I miss something?" she asks. "Elena, aren't you supposed to be _Stefan's_ girlfriend?"

Since everyone is concentrating on Damon and Elena except Stefan, only those two see Stefan's brief grimace when Caroline refers to Elena as his girlfriend. Elena sighs, knowing just by that grimace that Stefan will never look at her the same way again, not now that she's a vampire. "It's complicated, Caroline," she says softly, fingering her daylight ring.

"How can it be _complicated?"_ Caroline demands.

"Drop it, Blondie," Damon says coolly. "Keep pushing her and you won't like what is revealed. Just accept that a _lot_ of things have changed since Elena made her deal with Katherine."

Caroline opens her mouth to protest, but Jeremy cuts her off with a different question. "Speaking of that deal, Stefan didn't really tell us much about it," he says, glancing at the younger brother. He frowns thoughtfully when he sees that Stefan isn't even _looking_ at Elena and Damon. He pushes his suspicions to the side for now, though. "He said that Elena should be the one to explain it." He turns his attention to Elena. "So, sis, mind telling us what the _hell_ got you to agree to this?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at his sister.

Elena scowls at Stefan before turning her attention back to the group. "I should start from when I got Katherine's text," she says softly. "She first sent me a picture of Damon and Stefan tied up with vervaine ropes in a dark room. Immediately after that one, she sent a text saying that if I didn't want them to die, I'd go to the old Salvatore estate _alone_ and without contacting _anyone._ In the text, she mentioned that they were in the basement." Elena feels her cheeks heat up slightly. "I'll admit, I completely lost all common sense when I saw the picture. I knew it was a trap but that realization was only made in the back of my mind. I managed to remember to bring a flashlight with me before rushing out the door." She shakes her head.

"She even left the back door standing open in her rush," Damon says. "Found _that_ out when we got her back."

Elena elbows him in the stomach, being in prime position to do so. Damon winces. "I thought _I_ was the one telling this," she says crossly.

"By all means, continue to enlighten us to how _stupid_ you were," Damon retorts.

Elena rolls her eyes and elbows him in the stomach again. "So, when I got there, I was trying to remember what Rick had told us in history about the general layout of the plantation manors in the middle of the nineteenth century, trying to remember where the ways down into the basement were. I remembered that one entrance was always near the kitchen because that end was used to store the food and alcohol," she says.

"Let me guess, you went clambering into the ruins and searched until you found the kitchen," Damon says snidely.

Elena scowls at him. "Pretty much," she replies shortly. "I had enough wits back by that point to know to be very careful about testing each stair as I climbed down to the basement. That was a damn sturdy staircase because none of the steps were so much as _loose,_ much less rotted or anything else. Then I searched half the basement before finding the brothers."

"At which point she wouldn't listen to a word we said when we tried to get her out of there before Katherine came back," Damon remarks dryly.

"Just as I was down to the last knot of the rope holding Damon up by his wrists, Katherine grabbed me," Elena continues.

Caroline raises her hand and waves it a little. "This isn't a schoolroom, Blondie," Damon groans. "What is your question?"

Caroline meets Elena's eyes. "Why did you try to free _Damon_ first?" she asks, obviously confused.

Unfortunately for the group, Elena had already thought up an answer for just such a question. "Because he's stronger than Stefan," Elena replies. "If Katherine came back, Stefan wouldn't have stood a chance fighting her. I figured Damon might at least have been able to hold her off until I freed Stefan."

Stefan winces. Damon has to give Elena props for having such an acceptable answer ready to give on the spot. But both brothers know _that_ isn't the _real_ answer. Not when Elena hadn't paid _any_ attention to Stefan even though Stefan was tied up closer to the door than Damon. Not when it was _Damon's_ name that fell from her lips as soon as she walked in the cell they had been held in. The others buy her answer quite readily, though. And neither brother is willing to break it to them that Elena is lying through her teeth.

Elena sighs. "Anyways, Katherine grabbed me before I could free Damon," she says with a grimace. "She told me that since I obeyed her instructions, she'd make a deal with me. She wanted me to choose one Salvatore brother to stay here while the other was forced to leave town with her. I told her to take me instead."

"_Why?"_ five voices burst out at once.

Elena averts her eyes. "Because I knew that neither Stefan nor Damon would go with her without fighting to get away from her so they could come back here," she says softly. But everyone else can read between the lines enough to know that Elena couldn't stand the thought of either of them in Katherine's hands. "So I told her to take me. She asked me a series of questions that led up to asking if I'd sacrifice even my life to protect them from her."

The silence after that stretches out an almost unbearable length of time, finally ending in Caroline asking in a very small voice, "What did you say?"

"I said that I'd give up my life to protect those I care about," Elena replies. This silence that follows _that_ revelation is even longer and tenser than the last one. Elena is the one who finally ends it. "That's when she decided to make the deal: she'll leave everyone I care about alone if I let her turn me."

"And, as you can see, the idiot here agreed," Damon grouses.

"What makes you so sure she's going to stick to her end of the deal?" Bonnie demands.

"I asked her to make the deal under a blood oath," Elena says softly. "She did so."

Three face show shocked enlightenment while the two humans are completely confused. Damon decides to enlighten them. "Each supernatural race has their own magical oath to swear by," he explains. "The blood oath is the _only_ spell a vampire can cast and it binds them to their word for eternity."

"Witches and warlocks have the witch's oath," Bonnie says.

"And werewolves have the pack oath," Tyler adds with a sigh. "Like vampires, it's the only spell _we_ can cast."

"Going against your racial oath is something _no_ supernatural does and lives to tell about," Damon adds. "So we can actually trust that Katherine won't bother us. _But_ she made sure to include in her oath that if _we_ went after _her,_ she would be able to defend herself against us. So there's no _way_ we could take her down because she would be able to defend herself."

"Anyways, Katherine fed me her blood and snapped my neck," Elena concludes.

"And then the queen bitch revealed to Steffie and me that her plan _this_ time had been to end her bloodline by turning Elena into a vampire," Damon adds, scowling. "So the idiot here pretty much played right into Katherine's hands." Elena smacks him. Damon winces. "You're abusive," he grumbles.

"You deserve it," she snaps.

"So, since Katherine captured you guys with every intent of figuring out a way to get Elena to agree to turn into a vampire, I'm guessing her games are far from over," Alaric concludes.

"Better believe it," Damon says. He looks at Elena. "You forgot to force her to add the 'and leave town' bit to her blood oath. She made it perfectly clear she's going to be sticking around." Elena groans. "Look on the bright side," Damon remarks. "At least she won't be able to mess with anyone you personally care about."

"That still leaves a _lot_ of people in town she can meddle with," Elena informs him with a sigh. "My guess is that by now she's already compelled a large percentage of the population to keep tabs on us _for_ her."

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid you just might be right," Damon groans. "And it's not like we can just override her compulsions with our own. It just doesn't work like that. Prior compulsions _always_ take precedence over new compulsions."

"Not to mention that she was _very_ good at passing herself off as me even when I was human," Elena reminds everyone. "I hate to think how much easier my transition must have made that for her."

Damon frowns thoughtfully, wondering if he _really_ wants to get hit again for opening his mouth about the one big difference between the two women. After all, _he_ should _never_ have seen _it,_ and she doesn't know he _has._ Then he bites back a groan because he knows that _someone_ has to bring it up and Stefan is too much of a gentleman to talk about it. So that leaves him. He quickly catches his brother's eyes and they engage in the very rare vampire ability that they were both gifted with: telepathy. Finally, they both give slight nods. But, in all reality, it had only taken a few seconds to reach their agreement.

Damon sighs. "Actually, Elena, there is _still_ one big difference between you and Katherine," he says.

Elena turns to him and frowns, sensing that he's not referring to the differences in her vampire capabilities and Katherine's. "What do you mean, Damon?" she asks coolly, noting that he's refusing to meet her eyes.

"First, you have to promise you won't hit, kick, punch, slap, or in any other way express your anger at me in a physical fashion," he says quickly.

Elena narrows her eyes. "And _why_ would I be angry?" she asks.

"Let's just say I haven't been _quite_ as forthcoming as I should have been about my capabilities as a vampire," he says.

"Damon," she growls, a clear warning in her voice. _"What_ is the difference between Katherine and me?"

Damon sighs, knowing he will never get that promise now and knowing that he is going to be in for a world of hurt soon. "Katherine doesn't have a birthmark," he says.

Elena stands up in an instant, fury radiating off her so thickly that even Rick and Jeremy can sense it; for all that they are human. "How?" she grits out, barely refraining from lunging at him but also incapable of speaking in more than one word sentences for fear of losing that fragile thread of self-control.

Thankfully, Damon knows her well enough to know that she's asking 'how did you see it?' He sighs. "You weren't _nearly_ fast enough as a human to hide anything from _my_ eyes," he replies. Elena lets out an inarticulate scream of rage and lunges at him. Damon uses his superior speed to avoid her and it's only her newfound vampire abilities that stop her from crashing into his chair. She whirls and glares death at him. He had moved to the opposite side of the room from her. "Elena, now is _not_ the time," he chides from next to the chair Jeremy's seated on.

Jeremy suddenly realizes what has Elena so infuriated with Damon. He shoots a glare at the vampire standing next to him. "You _pervert!"_ he exclaims.

"Okay, now I'm _really_ confused," Caroline whines.

Since Elena is too enraged with Damon to explain and Damon is too busy staying as far from her as the room will allow, Jeremy decides he might as well explain it since Stefan is _way_ too polite to go blabbing. Jeremy sighs. "Elena has a birthmark on her left hip," he says. "Only way to see it is if she's either in a _really_ skimpy bikini or if you happened to see her naked. Considering the fact that Elena has _never_ worn a skimpy bikini, I'll leave it to you to come to the conclusion of how Damon knows about it."

Four pairs of eyes go _quite_ round at that revelation. "No wonder Elena's so angry with Damon," Caroline says softly.

Everyone seated stays as still as possible to avoid getting hit by either Damon or Elena as the latter tries her damnedest to catch the former so she can beat him up. After half an hour of avoiding Elena's attempts to catch him, Damon decides since she's not going to calm down on her own, he's going to have to _make_ her calm down. And since he's not her sire, he can't use the sire connection to force her to calm down against her will. So he's going to have to do it the hard way.

Damon dodges Elena's next lunge but quickly dodges behind her and pins her arms up behind her back in a _very_ painful position. "Look, I'll let you wail on me all you want later if it makes you happy," he hisses at her as she struggles against his hold. "Right _now,_ we have to try to figure out what game Katherine's playing and come up with as many ways to counter her potential plans as possible. So calm the _fuck_ down before I resort to introducing you to _just_ how painful the contents of a vervaine dart can be. Believe me; it actually hurts a _lot_ worse than you've been allowed to believe. I _don't_ want to cause you that kind of pain, but you're not giving me much choice." Elena stops fighting him but her uncontrollable fury still radiates powerfully off her. "Remember Elena, the longer you try to deal out whatever punishment you've decided I deserve right now, the more time you're giving Katherine to put her plan into place. She may have given her oath not to mess with any of your loved ones, but there are a lot of people even in just this backwoods town that aren't on that list. And most of _them_ aren't protected by vervaine. Turning you into a vampire can't have been the _only_ thing she came back to do. You know as well as I do that's not like Katherine. That can only have been step one of some big plan she's concocted. And the longer you let your emotions rule you, the more time you're giving _her_ to push her plan along. We could have spent the last half hour working out many different plans to put an end to her games but _you_ let your emotions get the best of you. I told you many times over the past few months that vampire emotions are a _lot_ stronger than human emotions. You elected to go into this life. So you have to learn to control your emotions on a whole new level." As Damon continues to speak, Elena's fury comes a little more under her control. The others do their damnedest not to attract either of their attentions to them. "C'mon, kitten, you need to continue to calm down. What would you do if during this time you're wasting caught up in fury Katherine had done something that we can't set right, huh? There are a lot of people in this town that don't have a _clue_ as to what's _really_ lurking beneath the surface and aren't in the least bit protected from the supernatural. As a vampire gets older, their repertoire of abilities grows and the more powerful they become. We have no clue what she's truly capable of, so we have to make more contingency plans than she can counter just to keep her from tearing this town you love apart." Damon doesn't think Elena's even breathing at this point, but now that she's a vampire, he doesn't have to worry about _that_ anymore. But at least her aura of fury has finally faded away. "Look, I'm going to let you go. Remember, I said that I'll let you beat me up later if it'll make you happy. Have I _ever_ gone back on my word when I've given it to you?" he asks.

"No," Elena breathes.

"So there is no reason for you to think that I'll go back on it now, is there?" he asks.

"No," she whispers.

"Will you trust that I'll keep my word?" he asks.

"You better," she hisses.

"Ah, ah, ah! Temper, Elena," Damon chides, tightening his grip on her wrist. She hisses in pain before he relaxes his grip again. "Now, you can give in to your rage when we have room to breathe. Which we won't have until _after_ we've come up with at least a _few_ theories as to what she's hoping to accomplish and a _few_ ways to counter each theory. As a vampire, you can _focus_ your anger in such a way as to be productive in helping us get those theories and ways to counter them together. That's one thing I _can't_ show you how to do. You'll have to figure that out on your own. Now, are you ready to calm down and help us out here?" he asks. Elena remains silent. "I should tell you, the others are barely breathing, much less moving. Whether they'll admit it or not, you're fury has scared them. Even your own brother is reacting a little like a rabbit that's spotted a circling hawk: no movement and barely breathing, nothing to attract the predator's attention. Remember, Elena, when you drank that blood bag, that's what you became: a predator. And even weaker predators, like my brother, know to lie low when a stronger one is making a fuss. Unfortunately for _him,_ even a newborn like you is stronger than he is. Surprising, huh?" he asks, amused by the sudden surprise radiating off her. "You could knock _him_ around if you so chose to. But you'll have to remember, he knows that his diet makes him far weaker than the average vampire so he's learned to compensate for that in other ways so that he's not _too_ outmatched in a vamp fight." Damon glances at Stefan and smirks as he sees just how tightly clenched his brother's jaw is. "You know, I have a funny feeling I just realized _why_ he didn't want you to be a vampire," he murmurs in Elena's ear.

"What do you mean?" Elena asks softly.

"I think that you becoming a vampire defeats the reason he gave himself for sticking around you. He wants to be your protector. But now you're capable of defending yourself against any human and will quickly grow stronger by the day, eventually becoming strong enough to hold your own against most vampires that would come at you. You no longer require protection against the big bad world. So he can't figure out what role he's supposed to play for you now," Damon whispers, keeping his eyes on Stefan. He can hear Stefan's teeth grinding and knows he hit it dead in the black. Elena tenses and Damon knows that her fury has found a new target. Elena _hates_ being put in the damsel-in-distress position, hates it more than anything else in the world. "Remember, right now we have to focus on figuring out what Katherine's up to. There will be time later for any grievances you have to be dealt with. You with me?" he asks.

"Yes," she replies.

"Good," Damon says, stepping away from Elena while simultaneously releasing her arms. She quickly pulls her arms into much more natural positions. "Okay, crew," Damon calls out. "Now that she's settled down, let's put our heads together and figure out what Katherine's planning as well as think of a few ways to stop her games."

Damon returns to his chair and Elena quickly returns to her position in his lap. "You're still going to get a good thrashing later for being a peeping tom," Elena mutters under her breath.

"I wouldn't expect any less," Damon assures her, knowing that whatever pain she deals to _him_ will be _nothing_ compared to the agony she'll put Stefan through.

* * *

Sarah: and there's the chapter. I hope everyone has enjoyed it! Reviews are most welcome!


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